(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for estimating the location of a terminal using dead reckoning.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Dead reckoning is a technology for estimating movement distance and movement direction of a user using inertial sensors such as an acceleration sensor, a magnetometer, and a gyro sensor, as well as additional information, even in an environment where a definite location information providing service such as a global positioning system (GPS) is not provided, to estimate a relative location change from a finally obtained definite location and to estimate the location of the user.
However, dead reckoning commonly has drawbacks in that performance is deteriorated by the performance of a sensor or various peripheral factors so that it is difficult to measure the correct location of a terminal and in that errors are accumulated by the movement distance and the motion path of the dead reckoning performed from the finally obtained definite location so that the accuracy of the location is reduced. In addition, positioning resource information and dead reckoning related information that may be obtained by one terminal are limited, so applicable positioning methods are limited and a positioning function is not performed when minimum necessary conditions in accordance with the respective positioning methods are not satisfied so that a positioning service for a user is limited.